Martina Lauterbach, Transcript Section 13

Community Health Aide Program Project Jukebox

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KAREN: The other thing, some health aides have talked about their faith as helping them through some of the difficult times. I don't know if that's something you would want to comment on. Okay.

MARTINA: No.

KAREN: Is there anything else that you could think of that I haven't talked about?

MARTINA: I don't think so. I mean, I'm sure, you know, something will come up later. Uh-hum. Did I tell you this?

KAREN: Well, one thing -- one other thing I can think of, because I think about some of the other interviews I've done and things that have -- subjects that have come up, and it varies from community to community, conditions in the village at the time in -- in terms of healthy living or --

MARTINA: Uh-hum (affirmative).

KAREN: -- or things that were going on and how the health aide was impacted by that.

And I've had some people talk about feeling the need to be a role model for having a healthy life-style and the pressures of that. I don't know if that's anything that you have experience with or want to talk about.

MARTINA: Not really.

KAREN: Okay. As I say, it varies from place to place.

MARTINA: Yeah.

KAREN: Time period to time period.

MARTINA: Right.

KAREN: That everybody's -- that's why we like talking to so many different people because everybody's had --

MARTINA: Different experiences.

KAREN: Yeah.

MARTINA: And different viewpoints.

KAREN: Right.

MARTINA: Yeah.

KAREN: And different time periods and different villages --

MARTINA: Uh-hum (affirmative).

KAREN: -- have gone through different phases --

MARTINA: Yeah. Uh-hum.

KAREN: -- in their histories. And I don't know the history of Emmonak, so I don't know if it's something you want to talk about.

MARTINA: History of Emmonak healthwise, it's pretty filthy. Because of honey buckets. We didn't have running water. We were one of the first ones to get, like, the vacuum --

KAREN: Oh, really.

MARTINA: -- sewer system.

KAREN: Oh.

MARTINA: In Emmonak.

KAREN: Cool.

MARTINA: So -- but it was pretty dirty, I think. Because, you know, people just kind of dumped their wastes right outside their homes. Or you know, they -- they were taught, you know, to make -- you know, like dig holes and stuff like that. But you know, there was still a lot of people dumping right into the slough.

And I think that was pretty -- that's probably why I did some, you know, Hepatitis A. And, you know, prevention, I think, would come to mind for me. You know, for my time period as being a health aide.

KAREN: So did you, as a health aide, did you work on health education prevention kind of things?

MARTINA: Not really, no. Huh-uh.

KAREN: No.

MARTINA: We didn't -- you know, I guess we weren't even -- we never even had a prevention at the time.

I mean, you know, there may have been some, but you know. I was too busy taking care of, you know, the acute things, you know. Well, prevention was -- yeah, for immunization, you know, like for disease prevention I encouraged when I was out there. So I guess that would be -- you know, that's one of them.

KAREN: Yeah. So you did do some of that?

MARTINA: Yeah. Uh-hum.

KAREN: Yeah. It sounds like.

MARTINA: I liked to make sure that their kids got, you know, their immunizations.

KAREN: You know. So does it seem like education -- health education and prevention has become more part of health care in Rural Alaska than it was years earlier?

MARTINA: I think so. Because, you know, there's a lot of -- a lot more things, you know, out there that they put out in the villages. And even with their little, I guess they have the village TV, I'm not sure if -- I'm sure, you know, they have little announcements, you know, on their TVs --

KAREN: Right.

MARTINA: -- that come out. And I think they have, you know, like prevention-type stuff. So...

And then they get, you know, a lot of pamphlets from everywhere. So...

KAREN: Have you seen whether that makes a difference, all that advertisement and flyers and things?

MARTINA: I think so for the younger, you know, population, you know, preventing illnesses or -- and there's, you know, not -- Hepatitis B, you know, is kind of not there either anymore because of the vaccine, plus you know, learning how to make sure that, you know, wash their hands and that kind of stuff. So...

A lot of the diseases that used to be aren't, you know -- well, you know, some of the infectious diseases aren't there anymore. Thank goodness to vaccines.

KAREN: Yeah. And now we have new ones instead.

MARTINA: Right.

KAREN: Well, that's all I have that -- we've pretty much covered a general overview there, unless there's some particular thing that comes to -- some memorable story that you haven't told me.

MARTINA: I don't think so. I think I've told you pretty much.

KAREN: So yeah, when you said I want to do this interview, we've covered what you thought you wanted to talk about?

MARTINA: I think so.

KAREN: Okay. Good.

MARTINA: Yeah.

KAREN: Yeah. I just --

MARTINA: I saw that and I said, well, you know, I'm an old health aide. You know, from that time period. You know.

KAREN: What I didn't ask you, your birth date, how old you are. Did you tell me when you were born?

MARTINA: Huh-uh (negative).

KAREN: I can do some math, let's see, 1969, you were 20 --

MARTINA: 7/5/48 is my birthday.

KAREN: Okay. I guess that means I don't have to do the math. We just like to know, you know, what generations of people we're talking to.

MARTINA: Uh-hum (affirmative). Uh-hum. I was one of the youngest, you know, younger health aides when I was a health aide. And there must have been a couple of -- I think two of us that were about, you know, in that age group. The rest of them were older.

KAREN: What was that like being one of the younger ones?

MARTINA: I don't know. Maybe just a little more -- no. I don't know, I just -- I guess I didn't really think of -- think of that.

KAREN: Okay. Well, I think we're done.